Our big picture is…Access to Justice & Trickle Down Justice.There are many people in our societies – and around the world – who are disenfranchised from the justice system. Is there a way to provide access to them?And is there a way to take advantage of a Trickle-Down effect – where government policies that favor the well-off can let justice flow down to those who are disenfranchised? Like, by encouraging more activity among the privileged, this can generate better access and outcomes for the less-privileged?
There are many From the client’s perspective, the challenges are primarily that they First, do not have awareness of the rights and resources available to themSecond, they do not have access to the legal system, legal counsel, or justice.
we chose to narrow our “big picture” down to trafficking so early, before we launch into our research. I think this will be easy, given that we have a huge project topic and trafficking is inherently an issue that connects different regions + our interests. I think Iqra did the global impact part of the research.
There are many governmental, intergovernmental + non profits working in this space.The general approach has been 3 Ps – Prevention, Prosecution +
Current regulators in US:US Dept of State (they publish annual trafficking persons report)They have Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which creates programs to fight trafficking and train othersDept of Homeland Security – they have the Blue Campaign, which coordinates and promotes coordination between the government and NGOs to work together on anti-human trafficking, and improve outreach. They maintain listserv and database of US organizations working on the issueDept of Justice has “Human Trafficking Enhanced Enforcement Initiative”Dept of Health and Human Services: runs the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, which has a nation wide hotline for victims and others to reach out for helpIndividual states, like Texas, Washington, have their own coalitions to coordinate and train anti-trafficking workTVPA – the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 – is the most important US law to combat trafficking in persons – the US govt uses it to set standards by which it judges itself and all other countries
International Regulators:UN’s Palermo Protocol (included in the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime), that specifies the UN’s strategy at preventing + addressing traffickingInternational Labor Organzation – a hub for activities and research on trafficking, particularly regarding forced laborInternational Organization on Migration, has a National Referral System for Assistance and Protection of Victims and Potential Victims of Trafficking – to try to coordinate practitioners who are all working on similar issues, and who can help build cases for individual victimsCouncil of Europe, which sets strategies for coordinating the identification + outreach to trafficked personsEuropean Commission on Anti- Trafficking, which tries to set overall policy coordination across institutions in the EUMany other UN bodies – United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking – which organize task forces, and issue annual reports on traffickingThe UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) tries to coordinate these different
Non-governmental playersThe Polaris Project – coordinates outreach and trainings, tries to rehabilitate, and works with US govt to run national hotlineThe Not For Sale campaign – raises awareness and sponsors summits where practitioners can come together with businesspeople to brainstorm and raise moneyMTV Exit – reaches out potential trafficking victims all around Europe area and beyond, to provide them with guidance, awareness, resources, as well as to those who want to campaignFree the SlavesShared Hope InternationalInternational Justice MissionHuman Trafficking.org – a website that tries to coordinate people who work, and maintain public-facing databases of information
This the area we chose to focus on – this is where we decided we should contribute – it is the area in which practitioners need assistance, and people in need could benefit from – and where we have skills which could potentially bridge gaps. This brings us to Step 3 – our target audience
Step 3 – Target AudienceClearly there are many people who are invested in stopping trafficking – raising awareness – and serving victims,But what we found in our research was that coordination is the problem – which points us towards targeting those many people who have enormous energy to work against trafficking, but who do not have the resources or opportunities to coordinate with others – to become more effective in their work.
One particular gap that we have heard with talking with lawyers who work only on human trafficking, or those who work for intl agencies or natlgovts – is that they have a lot of research and work to do that is in far away countries ---And often they do not have the means to find someone who can look up foreign bank accounts – who can translate from an obscure language – who can petition a foreign internet service provider to release a trafficker’s emails – or any number of tasks that are necessary to build cases & protect the victim.We have thought of a few different specific users in our target audiece – like a pro bono lawyer working on international cases, or a social owrker in the Phillipines who needs to figure what happened to her client in California before she was repatriated, or a law student who is eager to help but doesn’t know where to get started.All these people have skills + energy to work against trafficking, but they lack a simple, direct & helpful resource to help them partner up, share their expertise, and work together to provide access to justice to victims of trafficking.
Step 3 – Target Audience –Currently, there is no effective online hub for practitioners to find each other.Even though they express an interest in it. Obviously, they have little resources to devote to networking constantly, and building links in faraway places, even though this would benefit their work and their clents.They are for the most part tech savvy enough to feel comfortable using the internet to communicate and work on their cases.But there is no good service for their need for online partnership-building, or coordination. There are a lot of websites that promote awareness of human trafficking and help with campaigning – but there are few that try to be a hub for practitioners, and they are usually not very interactive or well-developed.There are some more general pro bono networking sites, in which lawyers can find each other, and people in need of help can find legal resources. These sites, like pro bono. Net, public Interest Law Network, and Human Rights Network, can be too general– they don’t have very rich resources on any one topic, like human trafficking. Also, they do not necessarily serve the target audience well. They offer some basic resources, but they do not provide efficient and engaging ways for practitioners to find others who are working on similar topics, and could help each other out.So there are 2 main insights that we are currently working with:Practitioners form their own informal networks, trying to find help for their international clients + to do research on traffickers, build cases, and share strategies + data – this is really important to the quality of service they can give to their client2. Practitioners want more cross-border coordination, but they do not have the resources, time or skills to build the network themselves
This will be an online platform, where those who are interested in trafficking can join together, collaborate and coordinate.
